Mind the Gaps DietOur site aims to give support/information for those on or considering the GAPS diet, or wishing to improve their health through a traditional diet. All the recipes are:Grain-free and Refined sugar freeStraight forward English Food!Watch your health bloom as your diet improves!

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I miss my porridge, It cant be helped, but until recently I could not find anything to replace it with, and so have resorted to scrambled eggs every day for breakfast. As I am not an egg-lover, I can't say that I always enjoy it. However, son 2 has recently started having breakfast with Husband at an earlier time, leaving me just making scrambled egg for myself and something in me decided to try a variation. What I came up with is surprising delcious - well I think so!

Eggs are a good choice for breakfast

Eggs are easy for breakfast - they cook quickly - a real fast food, and are also very nutricious, especially if they are from hens that are free to roam in pasture.

And so.....

I put my beaten eggs along with a small quanitity of frozen raspberries and a dash of milk kefir into a pan with a knob of melted butter, and stirred, until the egg began to solidify, but took it off the heat before it properly scrambled. I poured it into a bowl, stuck in an extravagant spoonful of raw honey, topped it with dessicated coconut and sour cream and....took the first mouthful.It was warm, cozy, creamy and surprisingly, just like porridge in texture - only with eggy lumps rather than oaty lumps.Now it is my every day staple!!And so I though I would share it with you, just in case anyone else fancies trying it out!

It only takes minutes to make!

Substitutes

Any frozen fruit can be used - or even cocoa powder!Any milk or milk substitute can be used if you want dairy free.The butter can be replaced with coconut oil.The coconut could be replaced with home-made granola.

I don't know about you, but it seems to me that feeding the family seems to be getting rather complicated. By this I mean that the recipes seem to be turning into copies of gourmet restaurant meals, needing all manner of complicated ingredients and the photos of the end product look like they are barely enough to feed a flea let alone teenage boys and men! I believe in keeping food simple. That means - less time spent preparing, less time clearing up afterwards and less time on my feet! There are all manner of enterprising recipes for those with the time and energy to create them for those on the GAPS diet, but for busy people, I want to show you that you can eat well, enjoy your food and all without spending hours at the stove. This post will provide you with plenty of ideas for easy meals to prepare in under an hour, or that cook themselves leaving you free to do other things. These recipes can be enjoyed by all.

Do remember that when you are doing GAPS, your personal list of tolerated foods will be different to other people, so when followingh these recipes, please replace items your family cannot tolerate with something they can if possible.
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Method
Simply squish the mince with the onion/herbs/salt/pepper straight into a large baking dish (save on wahing up!). Flatten it (as above) and pop it into the oven for 30 mins Gas 6, Fan 180C, 400F until cooked through and there are no pink juices.
Serve with baked squash/carrots, greens of choice and plenty of butter. Tomato puree straight from the bottle makes a good tomato sauce.
Pour fat from dish over meal as gravy.
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Ideas

Turn the same mixture into meat balls and cook in the same way.
These are delicious served on their own, or served in soup.
For many they make a tasty way to feed childlen and adults on the GAPS intro diet, but are delicious at any stage.

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​Stir-Fries

For these I love to use my big cast iron frying pan. these are fantastic as you can have as many different meals as you fancy using one method. Like hot stuff? Then throw in the spices. Like it mild? Then make it as you like! Some like to add a dollop of peanut butter or tahini (it does make a flavoursome sauce) - be creative!!

For these I use either mince (beef/lamb/turkey/pork) or cubes of chicken breast or pork.

Method:
Melt the fat in the pan and sautee the onion (and mushrooms if using) until soft. Then turn up the heat and brown the meat all over. Then turn the heat down and continue to cook the meat in its juices, stirring occasionally for about half an hour - until no pink meat remains and meat is heated right through. I cover the pan with a splatter guard which keeps some heat in and keeps the stove clean! In the meantime, prepare and cook the vegtables to accompany the meat. Finally, add the stock/tomato passata, salt/pepper and herbs/spices and bring back to the boil.
Serve with vegetables and plenty of butter.
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Fresh fish

We are not great fans of fish, and I mostly use frozen or tinned fish - but fresh fish is delicious and so easy to cook.
Simply place the fish on a large piece of baking foil, add a little water, pat it with butter, you could squeeze some lemon juice on - or not as you like, and pop it into the oven about Gas 6, 200c./Fan 180C, 400F for about half an hour. Then prepare your vegetables as desired. It goes well with roast squash done as for the roast chicken legs - just pop the squash in the oven a bit before the fish, but it doesn't take long to cook. For children and some adults it is best to use boned fish, or the whole meal is ruined picking out the bones and worrying about swallowing one!

​fish cakes

These are so easy I made them in a tiny galley went we went on a boating holiday. Using tinned salmon, these are a breeze to make - great for when you are caught out and the meat hasn't defrosted for the meal you planned!
Find the recipe here.

​sausages

For the GAPs diet you need sausages made with just pork, salt, pepper and a pure herb. We are fortunate to have a local butcher who is prepared to make us a months supply at a time. However - they do make an easy meal. We always have them on Friday - so I don't have to think what to cook - Friday night- sausage night - and we always have them with squash chips. This meal replaced our pre-GAPS diet 'fish and chips' night.
Cook the sausages as usual - I like to put mine in the oven as they then do not need my attention - just pop them in a roasting tin. If you want them quickly - then don't cover them but if you can leave them down low for longer, then do cover them. while they are in the oven the butternut squash chips can be cooking too - though be aware that they will take longer. I often put the chips in about 3 hours before tea and go out and leave them, coming back in for the last hour to put the sausages on and turning up the oven. At this point I uncover the chips so that they get a little crispy - they taste good that way!!
Sausages in the oven cook well at about Gas 7, 200C/Fan 180C, 425 F for about 45 mins. Check that they are nicely browned on the top before serving.
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idea

If you can't get GAPS legal sausages, then make your own! Follow the recipe above for burger. If you have time you could shape the mixture into sausages. If not, serve in slabs - it will taste the same! You could leave out the onion.

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​casseroles

I love casseroles as they cook themselves. Funny that children will often love a casserole, but the same meal made as a stew they don't like as much. Prepare it straight after lunch and tea will be a breeze!

These can be as simple or as complicated as you like. I will give the recipe for a simple version with ideas for ringing the changes.

Method:
Melt the fat in a large pan and sautee the onion until soft. Meanwhile prepare the carrots and set aside.
Brown the meat in the pan with the onions. Add all the other ingredients (including other vegetables if including) and bring to the boil. Skim the scum from the top and carefully pour into a large casserole dish.
Cover and place in the oven for 2.5 to 3 hours at Gas 3, Fan 150C, 325F.
Twenty minutes before serving time, prepare the vegetables.
Serve with plenty of butter.
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ideas

​This dish can be made more exciting with the use of other herbs/spices and vegetables. Use whatever your family can tolerate. Slices of courgette placed on top are nice, as is a cheese topping (if tolerated): grate cheese on top 15 minutes before serving and allow to melt and bubble.

Tip: wash up the cooking pots and pans immmediately and after the meal you will not have so much to do!

​Roast chicken legs with roast butternut squash
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Another meal to pop in the oven while you go out or get on with life!
Simply place the chickens legs into a roasting dish - pat with butter and sprinkle with herbs if you wish, but I rarely think to do this.. and pop them in the oven and turn it on (some may need to preheat). I tend to like to cook them for at least 1.5 -2 hours with the cooker on at about Gas 3, 170C/Fan 150C 325F. Practice the first time and see how your oven performs.Then Prepare the squash - cut off the ends and then slice it horixontally into thick chunks. Then cut each chunk in half. Arrange the pieces in a baking tin and fill with about 1 1/2 cm water and put them in the oven too. You can take the seeds out before if you like but I usually leave them in as they are easier to remove once cooked.
Half an hour before serving cook the vegtable to accompany the meal.
Serve with plenty of butter and pour the meat fats and juice over the meal as a gravy.

Our new cake book with easy to make grain free/refined sugar free bakes! Only £3

​Check out our family meal crib sheets for ideas - print them off and keep them handy in the kitchen!
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It is nearly three years ago that we started the GAPS diet - and three years of being flouride free. It was quite a brave thing to ditch the flouride, but having read of the dangers of flouride and knowing that it would not help us in our quest to detox our bodies, we sought out a brand of natural toothpaste, as I didn't feel up to making my own - and our journey began. So far we have not had any major difficulties.
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This is our favourite, which we buy in bulk!

Of interest is our Sons' recent visit to the dentist last week: we were very surprised to find her in a panic about their teeth. On walking in to the surgery she asked me if we were still flouride free, to which of course I said 'Yes'. She then asked me how SHE was supposed to keep their teeth in good condition if I didn't let her use flouride and sealants (which we also refused as according to Ramiel Nagel in 'Cure Tooth Decay' they stop the teeth breathing). I assured her that I would take full responsibility.
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She went on to inspect their teeth and found nothing - except a little plaque as they both have quite severe overcrowding. She then poured over the X-rays she had taken last time to try and find 'shadows' indicating tooth decay - but again found nothing. So instead of praising the Sons for having good teeth and looking after them well, she sent them away saying 'I think you had better bring them in every four months rather than six while you are not using flouride - just so that I can keep a closer eye on their teeth!'. I'm afraid we will be sticking to the six monthly checks as we see no need of extra care. Neither Son has a filling or any trouble of any sort. She is generally a good dentist and I know she is genuinely concerned, but her theory is that of most dentists - that it is bacteria in the mouth which attacks teeth, rather than the body chemistry being out of kilter, that causes decay - which is the reasoning of dentists such as Weston Price and Ramiel Nagal. This leads her to conclude that putting lots of sealants and flouride on chidlren's teeth will protect the from cavities. Unforunately, it won't, it would seem from reading the research on the web.
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Plaque build-up
​Now being flouride-free has not all been plain sailing: we have found significant plaque build up that we did not experience with flouride toothpaste. In his book 'Cure tooth Decay', Ramiel Nagel explains how plaque is not from what we have done/not done to our teeth, but rather a indication that our diet/body chemistry balance is wrong. He says that if the phosphorous /calcium balance is right, then plaque will not occur. It is interesting to note that plentiful milk products should be eaten/drunk to get plenty of calcium but work must be done on digestion to ensure the full goodness is absorbed. Calcium absorption, he says, is reliant on adquate levels of Vitamin D. Raw milk and fermented milk products are highly reccomended.
The GAPS diet is very close to the diet the advocates and after following it for so long, you would think that we would be free of plaque by now. Unfortunately, not so! We have to conclude that our body chemistry is still not quite there. So we are still battlng with working from the inside out and in the mean time, trying to keep on top of plaque - hoping that it will ease off in time. Hopefully, our bodies and teeth are stronger for doing GAPs for so long and so cavities will be kept at bay, even if the plaque hasn't yet been conquered!

Plaque busting
Seeing as we are not in good health yet and live in imperfect bodies, we are not taking any risks, as none of us like the dentist cleaning our teeth for us! Son 1 has always struggled with the co-ordination necessary to clean his teeth well - so we bought him an electric toothbrush early on. He has had the least plaque build up. I have resorted to regular flossing, which along with regular brushing seems to be helping. Husband has had the most trouble. The dentist has told him he has receding gums - though his gums look healthy. We are still working on this one. He has many amalgams that we couldn't possibly afford to have removed.
Dr. NCM suggest brushing purely with olive oil, but Husband finds that very hard to do! Oil pulling is an option but it is hard for him to find time (and motivation) to do it.
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We are normal - we are still finding our way, and have ups and downs, but I feel that our diet must be having some good effect: the dentist's assistant at least remarked on how healthy they looked!
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We were invited to our nephew's 18th birthday party last week. My sister-in-law messaged me to check the menu and said that the non-GAPS attendees would be having sausage rolls alongside cooked chicken and salad. That got me thinking as I liked the sound of sausage rolls but obviously pastry is pretty hard on the GAPS diet! So I rolled up my sleeves to see what I could create. The family were delighted with the result! We certainly didn't feel as if we were missing out. We had our 'sausage and chicken' flavour along with the rest! So I thought I would share it with you.

Gluten and Wheat FreeOf course the pastry had to be both so this recipe is ideal for any gluten-free friends. It is made from soaked nuts (I used cashews, but you cna use a nut of your choice), coconut flour, butter ( though you could substitute coconut oil or lard)and egg. I like to soak my nuts to make them easier to digest. I have been working on a pastry for a while and this is my best yet. It holds together well and bakes well - just like ordinary pastry. It does not roll though, so sadly it had to be a pie rather than sausage rolls - but non-the-less tasty! If you are not n the GAPS diet, feel free to use any gluten/wheat free pastry recipe.

​The sausage filling I used organic pork mince as I like to get the best pork I can, preferably out-door raised. I added some sea salt and pepper and sage to add flavour. I could of added 1/4 cup diced onions too. I didn't this time, but will next time. ​

Versatile
Great for breakfast, cold with salad for dinner, great in a packed lunchbox, or served hot with vegetables for the main meal. You choose!
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​The recipe​If you are using my pastry recipes, you will need to soak your nuts 2 hours ahead of making the pie.
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Since starting the GAPs diet, one of my main objectives has been to make sure my family do not miss out on their favourite bakes. Now I understand completely that GAPs is not about trying to recreate the diet you ate before and we don't, but we do like a little treat now and then and especially on birthdays!

My recipes began with my attempts to make a cheap chocloate cake. All of the grain-free cakes seem to use loads of eggs, or loads of coconut flour or nuts - and then produce a small cake! This seemed very expensive. Dr. Natasha Campbell Mc. Bride has a basic cake recipe using squash. As I had a glut of courgettes that first year, I decided to try and use those instead. With some trialling and some mistakes, I eventually settled on a basic recipe that is as simple as cake baking used to be with flour, and uses far less coconut flour/nuts (so less fibre for those healing their guts) and fewer eggs than other recipes do. To boot, the resultant cake is soft and spongy and low in carbs.

I have served my cakes to many people, most who request the recipe, even those who are not restricted to a grain-free diet.

I am very happy to at long last be able to give you access to fifiteen cakes. One (the special occasion fruit cake) is made of nuts and coconut flour, but it is worth it - nobody would be able to tell it wasn't made with flour.

carrot and courgette cake

Indulgent fruit cake?

Apple cake

Banana and walnut loaf

We have been having beautiful weather here in the UK for the last month - warm, and glorious sunshine from early morning until late at night. It has made me go searching for lighter recipes to have with salad and reduce time spent over the hot stove - after all I spend enough time there as it is, even though I try and make life as simple as possible! Unfortunately, my family are not fans of too much salad, so main meals always have to include cooked veggies. I can however get away with a bit of salad for the lightest meal. These recipes will go with either so are truly versatile.

Husband is not yet eating cheese (which is a shame as many easier meals include cheese), but we have found some where cheese can be excluded. I hope you enjoy browsing these recipes! Where cheese forms a large part of the recipe, I have substituted a pack of Parma ham (no additives/nitrates). I like adding herbs so often pep up the recipes with, for example chives. I have been serving light meals with mint leaves for a delicately fresh taste (which we have growing fresh in the garden). Spring onions also make a great addition. By keeping the basic recipe the same and simply changing the add-ins, you can make each souffle/quiche different!

Needless to say, these recipes are all grain-free and where dairy is used (cheese and fermented dairy), it could easily be substituted.

​Grain free cheese souffle

​GAPS quiche lorraine

​grain free quiche - 4 ways

gaps slow cooker quiche

You can, of course, simply take any recipe from any book and give it a grain-free/dairy-free twist. Make a grain-free pastry and use sour cream/kefir/other milk substitute to make the filling. Prosciutto (nitrate free) makes a great healthy alternative to bacon and ham.

This post contains affiliate links.
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Followers of my blog for any length of time will know by now that I love recreating those classic family favourite snacks and sweet treats that we enjoyed pre-GAPs diet. Well this time it's flapjack, oozing with butter and raisins, without the oats and treacle.

This bake had my family craving more (oh dear - not the aim of GAPS!) - but obviously the sign of a good treat! It took a couple of tries to get the recipe to perfection, but we think this is as near to real flapjack as we will get. Try it and see!

Packed with nuts and desiccated coconut it fills a gap (excuse the pun) with plenty of fat and protein to keep you from feeling hungry, with just a little honey to sweeten them.

The recipe is easy, so why not bake a batch and watch your loved ones tuck in knowing you are giving their guts a nutricious treat? Or invite some friends round to share them with you - if there are any left by that time!

to help you make your flapjack

When we first did GAPs intro, I knew very little, other than what was written in the Gut and Pyschology book by Dr. Natasha Campbell Mc.Bride. This is indeed the place to start, but as you start the intro diet, sooner or later a whole host of questions arise. You start googling to try and find answers, but few blog about their problems and so very often it turns into a struggle. I agree with the wise sages who reccomend that only one member of the family go through intro at a time, preferable mum first, so that she is then strong to help those coming along after (but of course, this is hindsight!)

What this adds up to is that it can become a very ANXIOUS time. We would love to just start eating right and have all our health difficulties melt away, but unfortunately it doesn't happen like that. Very often we get old symptoms back, albeit briefly, we have days when we feel pretty awful (even second time round of intro!) We can be very tired, overwhelmed with all the food preperation, and then little minor says he is hungry and you have run out of soup! Then there is the confusion between die-off and food reaction, and soon you can find yourself unsure, uncertain and feeling low which aggraveates the whole situation. In fact there are times when I have been sorely tempted to stop eating (which obviously wouldn't solve the problem at all, but make it far worse!!)
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Is there help?

One thing I have learnt on this second round of intro (from reading theGAPS GUIDE book, with which I would not now be without), is that the intro diet is lower in magnesium than the full diet. Magnesium is found in the broth, yes, but in higher quantities it is in nuts and dark green leafy veg which are too fibrous for the intro. Now why should this matter?
​Well, having learnt the hard way, a magnesium deficiency can AGGRAVATE ANXIETY - the last thing you need! So if you are finding that you are struggling with anxiety and/or panic attacks, and feeling particularly overwhelmed, then consider magnesium oil. Acording to the GAPS GUIDE author, Baden Lashkov, it may even help with constipation, depression, muscle aches, insomnia, headaches, stress, restless leg syndrome and cramping.

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What type of magnesium?

When I first read about magnesium, I was encouraged, until tried to look to purchase a supplement. Of course, on GAPs we have to be very careful of the 'other' ingredients in supplements, or we could find ourselves sabbotaging our efforts. Of course, you can use epsom salts for bathing, but we are supposed to rotate our detox baths, so this would not give daily magnesium - but an epsom salt bath can be great for managing detox feelings.

​My main concern was that I learnt that supplementing with magnesium can cause loose stools. Seeing as I am more diarrhoea prone, I did not think that was a good idea. But then I found the 'Hormones for Balance' website. The author explains the different kinds of magnesium supplements and which are the best. It was here that I discovered magnuesium oil which being topically applied (on the skin), by-passes the gut and so is suitable for people with sensitive bowels. So I went looking for magnesium oil to purchase. A quick search on 'Amazon' will show you that it is not cheap. However, reading through the reviews, it soon became clear that there was another solution (excuse the pun!). Make your own, for a fraction of the price.
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Make youR own magnesium oil

You only need two ingredients. Water (preferably distilled to extend the shelf life, but I use filtered water) and magnesium flakes.

There is no oil in magnesium oil, however it 'oils' the body! Some say it feels oily when you apply it, but I don't find that is always the case,

How to use

Magnesium oil is very safe to use, however always consult a health professional if you are at all unsure. You will need to apply the oil daily, preferable after bathing or showering, but not necessarily.
​Spray the body with between 6 and 30 sprays and remember the soles of your feet. You can start low and increase the dose as any sensitivity decreases.
It may sting to begin with, and you can dilute your mixture a bit until it gets more comfortable, but this should subside after a few applications. Applying the oil to fattier regions of the body may make the sting less noticeable, or remove it entirely.
You can add essentail oil/s to the mixture. I like to appply the 'oil' before going to bed.

You may find that it helps other problems you didn't know were related to a magnesium deficeicy! I hope you find this as helpful as I did!

Well, there I was congratulating ourselves on doing GAPs for two years, when now BUMP, I have had a setback and found myself right back on intro again, without any warning! To say it came as a shock is an understatement, but I intend to make the most of it. After all, no-one relishes the thought of deliberately doing intro again - but if you have to, thats a different matter! I'm afraid I can't tell you why I am where I am - I don't know, but I suddenly started having bouts of diarrhoea. Admittedly, I was on holiday at the time, but I hadn't eaten anything unusual - except I was experimenting with seed cycling. This inlcuded (the whole time we were away) a fortnight of 1T flax and 1T pumpkin seeds daily. Now I know that I had tried this before and ended up with a lot of stomach discomfort, but for some mad reason I decided to try again and ignore the bloating etc... After one day I spent the night in the bathroom and less than a fortnight later - an even worse episode took place, Loose stools took centre screen and something was definitely off kilter. I did visit the GP, who basically wondered why I had bothered going. He assumed I was worried about cancer, as apparently every one (according to him) who enters his surgery thinks even their itch must be cancer. He wasn't really interested as it hadn't been going on for 6 weeks! So I decided to take things into my own hands - intro INTRO!My big question was what should I expect - after all, I'd detoxed the first time hadn't I? Surely I should swim through it this time?Apparently no! The body recognises the deep healing opportunity every time you do the intro - these foods are powerful - and it can be different each time you do it! But it's not proving so easy this time!Now to punish myself (I was very tired after our very energetic holiday), I decided to go veggie free for a few days - just meat/fats and meat stock... in fact this lasted 6 days! In the end Husband pleaded with me to put veggies back in, albeit cautiously, as I felt so awful and weak and tired! Just for the info of anyone else who might benefit - my bowels went crazy and I took this to mean I wasn't tolerating veggie. In fact, it didn't make a tiny bit of difference when I put them in! I was so relieved to read in the GAPS GUIDE, that it is wisest to ignore ones bowels and focus on other symptoms, as they will be 'all over the map' possible for some weeks and months (by the way, this book is an essential to read before starting intro, once you have read the official GAPS book.)My first carrot soup with meat balls, was sooo delicious - I wolfed it down hungrily. Savouries have defintiely become more delicious. Even on a limited full diet, you can become overly dependent on the snacks, nuts and dried fruit.My bowels have now calmed down a bit, though still not anywhere near 'normal' - apparently a type 4 on the Bristol Stool Chart. However my stomach seems very sensitive to anything (including a veg,) it doesn't like, giving me horrible stomach discomfort. Carrot, butternut squash and leek seem safe at the moment. It seems I will be going slower through this time than last.

Have I seen any other benefits: Yes, my carpel tunnel which had insiduously been coming back has receded once more. I am sleeping very deeply. But at this stage I am still quite tired.

I have pulled out my copy of What to Eat on the GAPS Diet, with its invaluable store of recipes and ideas.I will keep you posted of any other bits of good advice I come accross, including recipes! Don't we all crave recipes on this diet!​

the self-catering holiday meal planner

​On another note, with holidays in mind, watch out for my latest publication, coming soon:The Self-catering holiday Menu Planner for GAPS/Grain free/sugar free/dairy free dietsHow to feed a hungry family simply, cheaply and still have time to enjoy yourself.

This little book will take the stress out of planning the holiday and then making sure you keep to your diet while you are away. It uses the simplest of ingredients so that you can be sure of finding them wherever you are. It includes suggestions for batch cooking to free up even more time! It is very versatile, so you can get the idea and spice up the meals as little or as much as you like. It provides for lunch and tea, presuming you will have your own ideas for breakfast.

Yes, incrdible though it seems, we have completed two years of the GAPS diet, so I thought I would give you an update on how we are doing.

Son 2 is very strong, fit, active and healthy. He has no sign of winter congestion despite the bitter cold winter spells we have had in the UK this year and has no signs of asthma. He eats like a horse and is always starving as all good teenagers are. He eats a wide range of foods, but 80% is meat, veg and fat. He does enjoy fruit too and I have to watch he doesn't overeat it though. He has just introduced cheddar cheese into his diet, with a view to widening his choice of foods and hopefully gradually moving him back onto a traditional diet and away from solely GAPS foods.He initially got quite thin, but has now filled out into a stocky, but not fat figure. This son did weigh 12 pounds 2oz at birth!

Son 1 has made good progress. He stopped growing very much when we started the diet - he was already 6 ft. but at that point was still going up quickly. Therefore he plateaued for a long time, but a recent measure shows he has grown 1 cm in 6 months, the most in ages. In the meantime it seems that his muscles have been healing. At birth he was diagnosed as being on the lower end of the normal hypermobility scale. He was definitely more flexible than most, with elbows clearly bending in the wrong way. At a recent visit to a physiotherpist, I asked if you can grow out of hypermobilism, as I could see his joints wouldn't move backwards as they used to. She answered, she didn't think so. I told her that Son1 was born rather more hypermobile than most, so she tested him, and all that remains is a little hypermobility in his knees, With a little more research I found that hypermobility can be caused by an ability of nutrients reaching the muscles. I only asked as when he (again) dislocated a knee cap, the consultant seemed to imply that being hypermobile had nothing to do with it. So when I discovered he still has some hypermobility in his knee joints, it would seem reasonable to think that it might not be helping his problems, which every one we see gives another reason from, ranging from his height, to funny shaped/positioned knee caps! Say no more - thank you GAPS diet! His stutter is still noticeable but only if he gets tired or stressed. His eczma still exists in a few small patches but it does not bother him and he only knows it's there because I looked and saw it! Before GAPs, he was plagued every summer with a horrible rash, either on his back and chest, or between his thighs. We would invest in every potion possible in an attempt to find something to ease the itching and soreness. We have discovered that he has a very sensitive stomach: sensitive to stress, which in most forms for him comes in the form of excess excitement, causing loose stools; and there are more foods that he has difficulty re-introducing than the rest of us.

I have had an interesting ride. Initially, I lost weight and gained heaps of energy. My cycles were fairly regular and light. Then I started to miss - first two months, followed by a 3 week very light bleed, then back to normal for two months. I didn't worry and just presumed I was getting old! Then I mised three months and then bled for nine days, a week later again for twelve days and two weeks after that for nearly four weeks at which point I went to the doctors, The doctor ruled out other possible causes and the gyneacologist said it was 'just hormones'. Well that was a relief, but my doctor had put me on a two month does of a progestin, but the gyneacologist said I must take it for 6 months as my periods were likely to be very heavy. Boy - they were! I have never had heavy periods of any form so this was a complete shock to me. Flooding and losing up 230mls in 2 days (I use a moon cup). Thankfully, the bleeding would quickly subside after 2 days. I was so grateful to a friend for introducing me to Wellsprings Natural Progesterone Cream (the only one available easily from the UK, other countries may have more choice) and with my docotor's permission, started to use it. Following their very helpful advice, I reduced the bleeding after one month, and further reduced it after two of continual double dosage. This has gradually elimated all symptoms. However I was perplexed as GAPS says the diet regulates hormones so I asked Dr Mc. Bride and she said all bodies are different in how they heal and some may need natural progesterone to ease the transition, Well as I am now 50, I will continue with it to smooothe my passage through menopause.Around this time I also started to gain weight. I thought at first it was the synthetic progesterone that had caused it (listed as one of the side effects) but now several months after stopping, the weight still stubbornly persists. The natural progesterone says it helps with weight loss as putting on weight is a sign of estrogen dominance. That hasn't worked either. Since my waist has not increased greatly, I can only presume that I must have very solid bones!I have started seed cyling to help balance the hormones. Agnus Castus ( I have used this one in the past to good effect) is another good alternative to gently help the body regulate progesterone levels. I am currently having days when I am extremely tired after lunch, but flying before and flying again the next day (i.e. doing too much!). I am investigating the cause! Husband thinks my thyroid is now working more efficiently, which blood tests have shown it is, having a reduced TSH from a steady 1.4 for several years, to a 'optimum' 1.1. The natural progesterone cream can help to improve thyroid function as the thyoid hormone is closely linked to the sex hormones - one reason why many ladies aged 50 + develop thyroid problems as progesterone levels get lower. If so, I must monitor it closely and learn to regulate my new found energy!

Onto Husband. Apart from his weight, husband very rarely has other symptoms to gauge his thyroid function by. Therefore he monitors his weight every week and has blood tests every 6 weeks. Consistently his labs showed that he needed to reduce his medication (cheese seems still to have been the biggest culprit in his case). The consultant however, would reduce him in big doses which just seemed to kick him back more hyper again. So in the end, after seeing the FAQ on the GAPS diet webpage, where Dr. Mc.Bride explains that thyroid medication must be reduced very slowy as drugs become part of our physiology, he took his medication into his own hands and has slowly reduced 5mg every 6 weeks or so, using blood tests as a guide and his weight in between, sometimes increasing a dose if he feels he went too fast and he lost weight, all under the supervision of his doctor. This is a slow but effective process. We have learnt that by and large, endocrinologists know little about the thyroid, preferring to simply take it out, make you underactive and put you on Levythyroxine for life, as soon as possible.

I have been getting more and more post through my in box recently, advising me that in order to heal the body, we must consider more than just food and look to our minds as well. I hope regular readers of my blogs will know that that is something I often stress - the importance of looking at our lifestyle too. However, the latest emphasis - and it's funny how everyone seems to jump on the same bandwagon a lot of the time - seems to be on the care of the mind. Why? Because the state of our mind does have a direct impact on our health. I don't doubt that, having experienced it many times myself. It is also true that the state of our gut affects the state of our mind - its a two way thing. Stress is the main thing we all battle against in this fast-paced world in which we live. With ever more efficient targets to aim for, more work to be done in less time... you know how it goes! As an aside, I do often wonder where the inventors of all this think we are heading. What is the purpsose of more 'efficiency' when actually, from what I see, as a people we are becoming far less efficient for all our techniques! But never-the-less, we are caught up in a rat race to...???? Where? Now if the emphasis was rather on doing things to a higher standard, and better quality, that might change things a bit - we might actually slow down and start to take more care! I think though, that in many people minds, efficiency equals quality, but sadly it doesn't always. Reducing the number of workers and rushing them off their feet and paying them a pittance is hardly the way to produce better quality anything. So it is not surprising that to counter this, we are told we need 'time to ourselves', time to 'destress', space to think, contact with nature to help us get a sense of focus, etc.... Many ways of doing this are propounded, for example: mindfulness, 'Tapping', Yoga and meditation.

What we are basically being reminded of is that we are not just made up of a body. We have a mind too, but more importantly we all have a soul and that is often overlooked/forgotten/ignored, posssibly because it makes us feel uncomfortable; its an area we would rather not look into. Many link the mind to the soul and there is no doubt there is a link, anf many ignore the link to their peril. The mind is very powerful and tampering with something you don't understand can be catastrophic. The soul, though, deals with our moral nature, not just how we handle stress. But, as we all know, one part impacts on the other and you cannot deal with the mind and body, without also dealing with the soul. Whether we like it or not, we cannot escape the fact that we all have a spiritual component to us. We might say 'I'm not religious' as a way of pushing it under the carpet. Others ignore their conscience and push it out of the way and pretend its not there. But you can't. It won't go away. It's part of you. What is more of note, is that what you do with your soul doesn't just affect life now, but it affects your eternal destiny, as again, although you may wish to deny it, your soul will never die. In other words, while you are lavishing much care and attention on your body and mind, these will one day fail and come to an end. Your soul, will not come to an end. It will carry on going. Now that's a scary thought. Carry on going where? Maybe that's why many of us care not, for all our mindfulness, about our soul. It's too troubling. It's too confusing. It just makes us feel out of control - the opposite of what we are trying to achieve! But its too important to neglect! Eternity will be much longer than your life, however long, on this earth.

What do we do about it? Ignore it? Go to church? Which church? Be religious? Which religion? Too many questions, and many of them unfavourable to us, crowd our minds. See - they crowd our thoughts and trouble our soul (see, we can't seperate them) ...troubling thoughts and uncomfortable feelings. So we shut them up and hope they will go away. But they don't, they fester, like an open wound.

Now I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I'm not telling you all this to improve your health. I don't want you to consider your soul just as a means of prolonging your days here on earth. No! I'm telling you, because eternity matters. We are so mindful of lengthening our days here, we forget eternity is longer - much, much longer.So what is the answer? Is there one? How can I know what will happen to my soul? What can I do to look after it when I am gone? Well , once you are gone, it will be too late. So you must do it now! It is urgent.Do what? Well first you need to know the state of your soul.The Bible tell us the state of our soul:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (King James Version)and"For the wages of sin is death" (KJV) This talks of eternal death - seperation from God for ever.

This is a gloomy picture you say. I thought you would tell me what to do.I am - listen. Listen to what these verses are saying about our souls. All of us - not just you. All have sinned. Many will deny this and say, "But I'm a good person really. I haven't stolen, or robbed a bank, surely I am ok?" But this verse tell us we have no excuses. ALL have sinned.

So what do we do about it? Is that it? No hope for any of us?No, there is hope! The second verse goes on to say,"For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

A gift? you say. Yes, a gift, not a reward. We wrongly think that our soul will be rewarded in the afterlife. We wrongly think that what we do to earn credit points counts something for us. You have been misled if you think this.The Bible tell us otherwise. We CANNOT do anything to earn our way to eternal life. I repeat, NOTHING! We are sinners, and we must pay for our sin by our own eternal death - unless..... and there is hope, we accept the gift. What is the gift? Forgiveness of our sin and eternal life as a consequence. The Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfect all his earthly days, allowed himself to be crucified, the most cruel death, in your place and in mine. He has paid the price for our sin, The gift is ready to be taken, but you must take it. You can't say 'Oh that's alright then, there's no problem." and do nothing. First you must admit that you are a sinner. Own up to it, see that you can't save yourself. Then you reach out in faith for the gift: "Lord, I'm a sinner, Save me!"

This is a gift indeed, for not only do you receive eternal life, but you are also made at peace with the all powerful, all knowing, wise, God. His son the Lord Jesus Christ is your saviour and promises to look after you all this life. His love for you is great and will He use all His powers to look after you. He will no longer be an impersonal God to fear, but a friend and Saviour. What peace! What joy! What comfort! Be troubled no more my soul, you have found a pearl of great price, a treasure beyond compare! You will want to please Him out of love for saving you, not fear.

If you would like to know more, then I would encourage you to listen to these messages from the Metropolitan Tabernacle in South London. Services are available live. There are many counterfeits out there. It is confusing. Basically, if anyone tell you to earn your way to heaven, don't listen. Its not a case of being good enough, trying harder, but "Lord, I'm a sinner, Save me!"

​Last month I set you the challenge of looking at where your money is going. How did you get on? It is surprising that when you stop to analyse where the money goes, you are sometimes amazed. I know I am.

Okay, this time we will start to look at little ways to free up money in the kitchen. It has to be understood that we are not going to skimp on the quality of food consumed. The aim is, to free money to be able to buy the best food we can afford. After all, we are seeking to heal the gut, and seeing as the diet is going to be very restricted and it will be hard, we don't want to be doing it longer than we have to! Neither do we want to have to spend more money out on expensive supplements if we could have got more nutrients from our food.​

shop around

My first piece of advice is to find the best value produce at the best price. This will most probably mean getting things in different places. Supermarkets are not the best place for vegetables (not even organic ones) or meat, as a general rule. I wouldn't say that I never get these things from a supermarket, but I try to limit it a mcuh as possible. Often the land on which the food has been grown/raised, has been intensely farmed and is lacking in nutrients. This will involve a fair amount of research and you wil be continually modifying your food sources, as you become aware of other options. Don't expect to sort it all in one go! So look instead for a local vegetable supplier - not necessarily organic, but fresh. Look for a butcher that sells local meat... preferably grass-fed, and if you are in the UK, it does not necessarliy need to be organic; local and fresh can be adequate, but see what your body can take. These will be your main financial outlays for food.

Look to buy in bulk where you can. Other things, like salt, dried herbs, cocoa powder, cheap honey (which I use for baking as heating destroys the enzymes, so it makes sense not to use your expensive raw honey), vinegar (for chemical free cleaning) can be purchased in a supermarket. I tend to be careful where I get olive oil from.Do watch for convenience foods and try not to buy them. I can hear you saying "But we can't eat convenience foods on the GAPS diet," and most we can't, but we can still drink water, and little bottles of spring water are a very expensive form in which to purchase water. Either buy your own filter, or buy in larger quantities. Or things like raisins, which you can buy in snack packs for a much greater price gram for gram than buying a big packet of raisins and putting them in little pots yourself. Of course, snacks, like NAKD bars are very expensive. See our snack recipes for delicious ideas that are much cheaper making yourself.

I mainly shop in small shops now - butchers, greengrocers, health food shop and order milk from an organic delivery service,​

Use up leftovers​

You know, it's amazing how easy it is for food to get 'lost' in the fridge/freezer. Once out of date, or left too long, it goes off and has to be thrown away - like throwing money away! So, keep an orderly fridge. Use things in rotation. Every day, pull things that need using to the front and push the newer things back. Watch those vegetables too as they won't keep fresh for long! The GAPs diet makes using up leftovers easy - veg can go in soups and lefover meat scraps make lovely breakfasts/light meals. Omlettes are great too with leftover veg/meat. In fact, I often cook extra veg, so that I will have some just to reheat for breakfast, as Son 1 likes a savoury start to the day. ​

shop concientiously

First, make a list before you go. The best way to do this is to make a meal plan for the week and aim to only buy the things you need. Don't be tempted by offers for more than you need. It is simply false economy. There are times I do go for an offer - if I need that item and know I can use it up. Otherwise I walk on by. Such things might be washing powder (though I mostly use wash balls) or tins, packages and frozen veg./fruit/meat.

Secondly: be careful what you buy where. I was recently alerted to the fact that anything you buy in a supermarket other than food, you have to pay more than you might elsewhere, for the convenience of buying it there. So don't buy stationary, car things, cookware, plastic bags/tinfoil/plastic wrap etc.. in a supermarket.

​

Keep the focus on meat, FAT and vegetables

If you are like me, it is easy to try and return to our old way of eating, albeit GAPS style - you know, a baked treat every day. Either that or we over rely on nuts and fruit. GAPS is about healing with meat and meat fats and vegetables and ferments. If money is tight, then cut the rest and you may even find some of your symptoms improve as a result!Also, make use of non-dairy fats as they tend to be cheaper - e.g. lard. Don't forget a dash of olive oil is good too.

Make your own toxin free cleaners

Household cleaners are no not only full of toxic chemicals, but they cost a bomb too, and green replacements are not cheap. If you think vinegar and bicarbonate of soda don't work think again - they do! I have a little spray bottle, which I half fill with cheap white vinegar, fill to the top with water and add a drop of ecover washing up liquid. This is my 'go-to' kitchen surface/bathroom cleaner. Bulk buy bicarbonate of soda - it's much cheaper that way, and you can use it for detoxing baths too. To remove stains, sprinkle a little on the surface, dampen it and make a paste, leave a minute or two, and gently rub. Wipe off with a damp cloth.

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Now, I know many of these things, you will say "Oh, but I already do that!" I am sure you do, sometimes...but if you are like me, we are human and things slip a bit here and there and it doesn't do any harm (only gives us more money left over) to pick ourselves up on things again. Or perhaps some of these things are helpful to you and you have never thought much about them. Either way I hope this post has been helpful.

​Please do leave a comment if you have any other ideas that readers might like!

The New Year often turns our thoughts to reducing outgoings. I offer these thoughts as to how to do a healing diet on a budget. Is it possible? I believe it is. Yes, good food is often more expensive than processed food, but when you make what you put in your mouth a priority, then it's amazing how creative you can become at finding ways to reduce costs.However there are several factors to be considered and we will look at them in a series of posts. In this post we will look at a few fundamentals.

Doing a healing diet on a budget is not a separate compartment from how we use money in our families generally. Our spending philosophy underpins every part of our lives. What do I mean?

I meet some families who consider themselves hard up. But when I get to spend time with them, I see practices that could be changed which would free up more money. Often money is almost literally being thrown away through unnecessary purchases. It makes me re-examine my lifestyle, to see that I am not unwittingly doing the same. I find there is always room for improvement.

At the root chore are our characters. Some find it easier to be frugal, others harder. If you don't know which one you are, spend time thinking about it, as it matters. The frugal ones are very careful about everything they spend. Could they get the same quality elsewhere but cheaper? They do price comparisons to get the best deal. They consider carefully whether an item is really needed, or if it is a whim buy, to satisfy a feeling, rather than a real need. They have an ethos of make and do, and recycle, rather than having to have everything brand new and up to date with the latest fashion, be it in furniture or clothing. They do not feel that their children will be deprived if they do not receive expensive presents etc...

So just for this week, have a really hard look at your spending habits. Maybe even write down everything you buy and how much it cost in the week. Then check that everything on the list was really necessary. Then have a little think. How many clothes have you bought (even if from a charity shop) that have hardly ever been worn? How much money do you spend on take-aways, or convenience food, like little boxes of raisins or water? How much electricity is wasted with lights left on all over the house, or chargers not turned off? The list could go on!

Some set a budget for groceries. We don't but I tend to find that my shopping bill tends to be roughly the same each week, with exceptions for when people come to stay, or birthdays etc... We hardly ever eat out (pretty impossible ont he GAPs diet anyway!). Others on a smaller income may find it necessary to have such a budget restriction. However there is often room for improvement.

Of course, good accounting is essential. You don't need an accounting qualification, but a basic means of checking what is coming in, against what is going out and making sure the books balance. It is so easy to live on credit, but never a good idea! Never spend what you haven't got is a good principal. Live within your means is another. I have heard others say that relying upon hand-outs from the government is not a good idea either, we should strive to be financially self-sufficient.

So, before I look at any other things you can do practically, think over these big things: your character, your lifestyle, your view of money and your general spending tendencies as they currently stand.

Next time we will look at some simple thrifty measures you can take right now in your home to help you be able to afford real food to heal the body.

No they don't bite, but they are the ideal size for a little nibble. A healthy treat to fill that little gap mid-morning or afternoon. Great for children's party's too. Ideal for diabetics as they contain no added sugar. I reckon they would make a quick breakfast too, especially if served with some sour cream. A good all rounder!

Here in the UK, much is made of the shameful wastage of food that occurs daily in our homes. Well I have to say little goes to waste in our house as we can't afford it to. I suppose we have a bit of a war mentality - as if their was a shortage and every scrap was another mouthful for someone. We love left-overs. In fact we love them so much I often plan to have leftovers. They make super breakfasts, for example, plus its amazing what you can turn them into! For want of a better name I call this dish:

Left-overs Casserole

​In fact, it is not one dish, but however many you can think of. The variations are endless and it need never be served up the same way twice! This recipe can be easily adapted for any meat - cold leftover turkey/chicken, or freshly cooked fish.It is so simple, but it does need some leftover squash. You can adapt it as much as you like and you won't go far wrong, but it does make for a delicious dish. I include some ideas dependent on your diet.
I like to roast heaps of squash and carrot on a Sunday, while the Sunday roast is cooking. Then I have left-over squash/carrot mix (which does fine for this recipe) for soups and casseroles and stir-fries throughout the week.

Variations:Experiment and you will make a new dish every time!

Meat/Fish:

​As it is a left-overs meal, I tend to use cold meat - often left-over from the Sunday roast. However, we also like it with fish. I buy frozen fish, bring it to the boil in a pan of water and let it cook for a few minutes until flaky (this does not take long!). Then I mix it up with the squash as per recipe.

Toppings:

Mix a quantitiy of ground almonds (almond flour) with a small amount of butter and rub the butter in to make a crumble. Sprinkle this on top before placing in the oven.
Gratin: Gently fry thin slices of swede in a frying pan until they soften. Layer them over the casserole and place in the oven. Ten minutes before serving, sprinkle with cheese and return to the oven until melted and bubbling.

Sauces:

Cauliflower Sauce instead of or in addition to the stock: See recipe here. Make a batch and it will do a couple of meals during the week.

Tomato Passata maybe watered down a little with a quantity of stock.

Vegetables:

Add different veg: pepper, frozen peas, tomatoes etc...

This dish is suitable for GAPS stage 4 of the introduction diet, once roast foods are introduced.

You know when out of a disaster comes something good? Like when you forget a key ingredient for the familie's favourite Sunday pudding and so you have to make something else instead? Well, that's what happened to us last week. To my horror, the gelatine (which I knew I had bought) completely disappeared. I searched in all the shopping bags to no avail and then with many apologies I had to explain that we couldn't have Chocolate Pots (see below) for Sunday lunch. Fortunately the Family were very forgiving as I made Chocolate Tart instead. They all agreed that actually it was nice to have a change.

So this week, armed with the necessary gelatine, I decied to ring the changes and make a Chocolate Mousse instead of the Chocolate Pots. And so something good has come out of my accident!

This is what materialised. It hit the chocolate spot exactly! It would be suitable for a week day dessert, or when entertaining, topped with some fermented cream of course!Try it and see - super easy to make and sure to be a winner!

For both puddings, diabetics can reduce the honey if needed. If you take it out completely, then add a little more milk kefir/dairy alternative.

​It's that time of year again. I know that last year I shared my favourite waffle recipe that we invented with you and you can find it here:We make it in our new waffle maker now, so it's no longer chocolate banana pancake, but chocolate waffle.

But a couple more recipes have come my way and I though I would point them out to you.

The first (above) makes a great sandwich replacement which is great when husband has to travel or we go out for the day. Just be careful - it IS very filling, before you add a filling! So don't do too much. With my round waffle maker I can make four waffles and one is enough each. I like the sound of using it as a pizza base, but that's not for us yet! I have to say that we don't indulge in waffles on Sunday as we are in too much of a hurry to get to church, but we do indulge on Saturdays.

The second has the lovely flavours of autumn and is delicious with honey and sour cream!​ENJOY!

My shopping habits are continuing to evolove. It's not easy trying to feed a family of now four, adult sized bodies, (even if not adult mentally, myself included!) on lots of organic vegetables and grass fed meat, espeically when you only have one income. Prior to the GAPS diet, my shopping was simple: one major trip to the local supermarket (probably, actually a van drop), followed by a samller 'top-up' from the same at the other end of the week. Gradually, in my search for better quality and better price, my shopping has become a lot more complicated and probably more time consuming. However, I don't resent this as the difference it makes to cook with good qulity ingredients that make you feel really satisfied after a meal is enormous. Of course, the best is the veg grown on our allotment. We have grown broccoli for the first time this year and nothing beats that fresh greeness of freshly picked heads, gently steamed. I'm afraid that having been spoilt like this, supermarket veg - even oraganic, now tastes dull, flat and uninviting.

So what does our shopping look like?

Yours will be completly different, depending on your location and what is available to you locally.

We have a local veg man come and drop our main supply of locally grown produce, weekly. I confess that local here means anywhere mainly in the South of England. It is all grown by small producers though, rather than large scale for supermarkets, and looks and tastes fresher than the supermarket veg. He also brings our main supply of eggs,

Abel and cole, an organic vegetable delivery service bring us organic milk each week, to turn into kefir, along with raw honey and organic tomato passat. Sometimes I'll order an organic chicken carcass for stock and supplies for low toxin, laundry and bathroom cleaning. We can't afford their organic veg.

I visit Waitrose once a week to get cream for our soured cream, as they are the best supermarket we have here for getting their cows into the fields as much as possible throughout the year. I also buy their butter as we cannot afford organic grass-fed butter. These are both reasonably priced. I aso trust their meat more than any other supermarket, so I buy 'convenience' foods such as pure frozen beefburgers (just beef, salt and pepper), and diced beef that I can cook from frozen. Uk animals are not allowed to be routinely treated with antibiotics as in the US.

I then visit my local butchers once a week. Here we can get grass-fed meat, albeit not organic. He gives me free bones for meat stock and fat to roast into beef dripping and lard.

While I am in town I visit the local health food shop, where we get some pastured eggs, coconut flour, seeds, oragnic Pukka tea-bags, and peanut butter and such like, when we need them.

Lidl is visited perhaps once a fortnight just for prosciutto, nuts (as they have a high turn over which reduces chance of mould on nuts), free range chicken and frozen, wild-caught fish - big chunks for a low price.

Once a month I visit my local 'organic standards' butcher, who makes us pork sausages, with just pork, sage, salt and pepper. These are delicious! He also provides another pastured, organic standards, chicken.

Then just to finish, I do visit Tescoweekly, to buy large butternut squashes for a good price, cheap honey for baking, raisins and such like.

One thing I have learnt recently, is not to use supermarkets for anything other than food as everything else has a bumped up price tag for the 'convenience' of being able to get it alongside the food.

So you see, our shopping is complicated, but it means I can get the best price for the best quality. I have spent time researching what I need, where I can get it from that is good qulaity and a reasonable price. It might change again....but this is how it looks at the moment.

How about you... have you thought about what is available to you locally? Have you explored possibiltites, or do you do the same thing all the time out of habit? The benfits to your health are enormous if you feed it the best you can. Put your money into good food rather than bottles of suplements.

Looking for a treat for my husbands birthday I saw a packet of cocoa butter in my local health food store. Having recently seen a recipe using cocoa butter that said it was GAPS legal, I bought some. Boy were my family pleased!

Although I didn't use the above recipe - I followed the instructions on the pack - using just honey and cocoa powder and a little real salt, we were pleasantly surprised at the texture. Whereas very dark chocolate bought from the local store is often dry and brittle, this was smooth and moist. All in all, a very pleasant chocolate experience. We did add nuts and raisins too.

At nearly £5 for 100g it was expensive though, so I was pleased to look on Amazon and find that you can buy it in bulk a lot cheaper! So maybe it won't be such a rare treat after all - but not every day! I must watch that sweet tooth of mine - it could come back very easily!

Seeing as the GAPS diet is a diet relying heavily on meat, I read with interest the article by the SCD Lifestyle folk, on the need to eat offal to keep our meat eating in balance. They say that eating too much muscle meat without a corresponding balance of offal can cause other health problems to occur.
Sarah Ballantyne (in 'The Paleo Approach' ) also says:

" Including organ meat and other offal in your diet a few times a week at the bare minimum is essential for supporting healing and overall health. And while enjoying the foods you eat is great for quality of life and emotional well-being, it is important to include organ meat in your diet whether you like it or not. " (p.196)

That's a long list and if you are honest, how many of them do you really enjoy eating?
Ok, maybe you are not like us at all and love a dish of liver. We didn't mind it too much when we could slather it with tomato sauce and have rashers of bacon atop but with no tomato and no bacon the desire has gone!

No, I will be quite honest, our family are not great lovers of offal!
We quite happily swallow copious amount of broth broth/meat stock, though I don't know if that actually contributes to our consumption of offal, but it does according to Sarah Ballantyne, provide glycine , an important amino acid. Adding lard is no problem, I fry quite happily in lard. Liver is the hardest I have to say!

So I have been trying really hard of late to try and sneak it into our meals in a way that it is not overwhelming, but is there in a tolerable amount.

Here are my ideas to date:

Cooking liver/kidneys in the bone broth and blending it in so that it's there, but with no lumps of offal to actually eat, and disguised by the veg when I make it into soup.

​Mixing a little liver in with my beefburgers, and making sure there is plenty of onion to disguise them!

Putting a few chicken livers in the chicken stir fry.

Adding lamb kidneys to our lamb casseroles

Adding heart with our beef casserole. Actually, heart is quite nice and they don't notice it at all like this!

I can buy pure unadulterated cold tongue from my butchers which strangely the Sons will happily eat, not so husband and I!

The butcher assures me sweetbreads are delicious .. we have yet to try them!

Skin is easy to take off the chicken carcass after turning the bones into stock. It then smoothly blends into the liquid adding flavour and nutrition and no-one minds it there.

Someone did warn me that I only needed one courgette plant, at most two, but somehow after planting lots in case of disasters, I didn't have the heart to throw them away. Result - of course we are overrun with courgette and can't give them away fast enough. Some people love them, others hate them. I don't know which camp you fall. We are somewhere in between. If I turn them into crisps or chocolate cake (see snacks and treats for other ideas), the family love them, but if they stand out in a meal as just plain courgettes, then I'm afraid they don't go down too well! So my dilemma is how to use them up as fast as we are growing them - after having given as many as possible away. Here is one recipe that no-one minded. The courgettes are very inoffensive, and sprinkled with herbs, actually are quite tasty! I like to slip a little offal in unobtrusively as it is so good for us and compensates for the quantity of meat we are eating.

We have never had such a bountiful harvest from our strawberries. It's wonderful! To be able to go out into the garden and pick fresh organic fruit is a very satisfying experience to start with, but then the taste is far better than anything you will ever buy in the supermarket.

So with a glut, having shared them out as much as we can, we are now trying to see what we can do with them. In case you are stuck for ideas I have put together this little info sheet with the best of the ideas I have come up with so far. Remember my rule - nothing tricky, fiddly or time-consuming, as I haven't got time! Plain, simple, honest good food with the minimal preparation. Thankfully, if you have grown your own strawberries, they will need minimal prep. any way, as they won't be covered in nasty chemicals. Of course - that's providing they haven't all been gobbled up - after all they are delicious on their own with honey and cultured cream!

Incidentally, the other day I was chatting with a lady about the virtues of organic food v. shop bought - especially ones grown yourself and she said that someone had said to her, that if the insects won't even look at the food as all it's goodness has been killed off by chemicals and poor farming methods, then what good will it do our bodies? I found it an interesting thought!

You could of course use milk kefir mixed with mashed strawberries to make ice-creams, but I have kept these recipes very simple and cheap. We don't have lots of milk kefir left after our normal usage, so I didn't presume you would have either.

The GAPS diet is recommended for helping children with all manner of conditions, like autism, ADHD, dyspraxia and dyslexia. As I have said in a previous post, Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride sees that they all have a common component - poor gut health. In her opinion (and in an increasing number of others in the medical profession) there is a link between the gut and the brain. We are most certainly seeing that in our family as we were work through the GAPs diet. We are still seeing healing taking place, nigh on 18 months after starting.

I think it is fair to say that most parents, when a child's birth is imminent, have at least a little anxiety as to whether the child will be healthy. If they are not born with an obvious health problem, then they inwardly, if not outwardly, sigh a breath of relief. Therefore it can come as a shock to them, when after a few months it becomes obvious that something is not right. Maybe the infant doesn't reach the 'average' age for the various milestones - walking, talking etc... Alarm bells start to ring. Sometimes it's a more subtle thing that mum is just aware of very early on - maybe the infant cries very loudly - screaming often. This is very worrying. She takes it to the doctor who prescribes colic medicine, as s/he finds nothing else wrong. Maybe its a lack of interaction - or lack of eye contact. Others might manifest weak muscles; unable to sit up, hold their own bottle when all the other babies even younger are doing so. It doesn't matter what is noticed, but it niggles and the mother starts to be anxious. Is something wrong? Eventually developmental assessments are carried out, with hearing/sight tests. Mother watches on very anxiously. And then the diagnosis (if you get one) can be earth shattering. Very often the young mother has no knowledge of autism/dyspraxia etc.. and so starts a long journey of learning. Children don't come with instruction sheets!

Doctors know very little, comparatively about these conditions. They have developed some drugs to help control behaviour by calming the child down (Ritalin for example), and there are therapies available, but the role of the gut is still by comparison largely ignored.

Let's look at some of the symptoms of dyslexia. Many people think of it as being primarily a reading and writing problem but it goes much beyond this. What many do not realise, is that dyslexia is on a 'spectrum' like autism, and although not known to be directly linked, they share many things in common. It comes in various 'strengths'; some have it very badly, others only very mildly. Those with mild dyslexia might only notice a tendency to get things in a muddle, but it doesn't interfere with every day life in a debilitating way. Others on the other hand are severely hampered by it as it interferes with their ability to read, write and compute as well as their day to day functioning. It can be difficult to identify as children can mask their symptoms: It rarely becomes very obvious until they are older by which time they have learnt some strategies, either helpful or unhelpful, to cope. ​See this interesting article here.

Basically, it is a problem with organising information - so the dyslexic pupil will have trouble learning 'orders' of things: days of the week, months of the year, time, times-tables, the alphabet etc.... This may reflect itself in poor personal organisation. In school, they will find it hard to follow the order of the lesson and the effort involved will tire them out quickly. Therefore they will be more inclined to drift and daydream and will be easily distracted. Others may use work avoidance tactics - fussing about equipment rather than getting down to work. Others may become the class 'clown' or draw attention to themselves through bad behaviour.At home and in class they may have difficulty processing oral/written language including having trouble following instructions.They may have trouble saying long words, or forget words.So already we have a long list of things that cause a problem, before we start to think about their written work and reading.

The British Dyslexia Association tell the following areas of weakness that might manifest themselves in a dyslexic child:

Of course, problems come in maths too. We have already looked at problems with ordering (especially day of week, timetables etc..) and time-telling, but confusing numbers and signs is common too. as well as ordering numbers and learning place value (i.e. units/tens/hundreds etc..)

​Diet:Some people do see changes with their child by following the GAPS diet, but I would recommend starting as early as you can. Don't think it will automatically make them into a good reader! It doesn't work that way. The diet helps to clear the brain, so that more normal pathways can be established and so that learning becomes easier. Note I said easier, not easy, as no learning is easy. It always requires effort on the part of the learner. As with all children with special needs, an intensive programme of education is beneficial if they are to make good headway in all areas. It requires attention in all areas of life, not just food.​Exercise:Alongside the change in diet must come exercise - especially exercise that helps to develop co-ordination as it is these exercises that help to establish correct brain pathways which help reading and spelling etc.. as young babies start to move, their movements appear random, but they are building up, step by step. For one reason or another, some children miss out some of these steps - very often those that are later diagnosed as being autistic/dyspraxic/dyslexic. They may not crawl, but bottom shuffle. Crawling is very important for developing eye-hand co-ordination, so by missing it out they do not develop the necessary brain connections needed later on. Do lots of crawling - join a soft play area and go as often as you can. All the crawling though tunnels is fantastic. Get them crawling like a tiger round the house while listening to some music. Riding a bike and swimming, for older children. Spinning, jumping on a trampoline. All of these things help to stimulate the parts of the brain that might not have had proper stimulation either in the womb or during the early years.As it is summer you can provide extra fun in your own back garden: build an assault course in the garden - be imaginative: hoops to crawl through, tables to crawl under, a cane balanced on two bricks to make a hurdle to jump over. Time them and make it into a fun race. ​Routines must be established. Find ways of helping your child to keep track of time - daily schedule charts using pictures for the very young; Talk to them about the routine. Use ordering words: before, after, while, soon, shortly, next, What do we do after breakfast? That's right - we clean our teeth. What do we do after dinner? We clear the table. What must we do before we eat? Wash our hands. Establish a bedtime routine.It might seem very restrictive, but it will help your child enormously. Many children without problems have trouble coping without a routine, let alone those who do struggle.

A good reading/spelling programme is essential. The good news is that with such a programme, problems with reading/writing/spelling may largely be overcome. It needs to be a phonic based programme that is intensive and systematic. It needs to be started as soon as possible - ideally in nursery school years. I will look at a such a system in a future post.

Disclaimer: I am a teacher, not a doctor. A member of the medical profession should be consulted about all matters relating to your health. This information is for advice only.

There are an increasing number of people who for one reason or another becoming either gluten or dairy free, or both. To meet the need, supermarkets now have an ever increasing range of 'Free from' foods. Many people are familiar with these aisles. When I tell people that we are dairy and gluten free, they automatically assume that we can eat any product labelled gluten/dairy free. They are often very surprised when I explain to them that actually, the GAPS diet is not about swapping conventional dairy/wheat products for processed alternatives, but rather, a completely new way of looking at food.What do I mean?Well, for the GAPs diet, we don't just swap out milk and then consume any alternative. We look closely at the alternative and evaluate each product separately for its merits or otherwise. Take coconut milk for example. Many cans of coconut milk are not the pure substance. They have other added ingredients like Guar Gum. Therefore I look for either Blue Dragon brand, or Biona as I know they are pure coconut milk with no added nasties. Many think we can drink Soy milk. But Soy has many drawbacks - despite being touted as healthy by many. Here Dr. Axe explains the problem - basically it contains phytoestrogens which mimic the bodies own hormones and can cause problems. Take almond milk, and you will find it is not pure almonds, but again has other ingredients added that on a healing diet we can't consume and that's without considering the source of the almonds and whether unsoaked nuts are good for us.For the GAPs diet, we can have alternatives...but they've got to be pure -which means either finding something that is pure - or yep ..making it ourselves, which actually works out cheaper in the long run, but is still expensive and very time consuming! So one tends to avoid it - especially if you are doing such a diet on a budget with a family. Four people drinking lots of coconut milk? Then watch the price of your groceries rocket sky high! We tend to keep these things for a rare treat.So how do we get round the problem? In our family we do invest time and money fermenting our own milk (into milk kefir) or fermented cream (sour cream). I make daily batches. These fermented dairy alternatives are actually worth investing in as they supply the body with essential probiotics, encouraging the growth of good bacteria in our bowels, which helps to keep our bowels healthy and therefore the rest of the body can work better too. They also taste delicious too. If you didn't see my post on recipes for milk kefir, see it here. On the rare occasion we have hot cocoa or coffee we use a slab of butter as the 'milk' substitute. This actually makes a creamy beverage, though it still looks like 'black' coffee.

What about wheat alternatives?Well if you examine the labels on the 'free from' cakes and biscuits, you will see too that actually they are no different from the ones in the conventional aisle in that they too include all manner of 'other' ingredients that are far from natural - including sugar. Therefore on the GAPS diet or anyone who is serious about their health will want to avoid them and make their own. Dr. Natasha cites families who have tried to improve their children's behaviour using 'free from' foods but had seen little difference, but once they changed to truly free from foods- i.e. made them themselves with GAPs legal foods, they often saw dramatic changes. Once again, these things take time and do cost more. So in our family we again keep them for rare treats. If you want recipes for the most easy treats I have found (or invented), see the 'snacks and treats' link on the side-bar.

How do we cope without these things?Well it has taken time. When we first started the diet 18 months ago (wow - that time has gone fast!), we found the transition very hard and I was constantly trying to come up with home-made alternatives to all the foods we used to eat. Two things changed that: firstly realising that I was introducing foods too quickly and we were reacting, and secondly, as time has gone on we have adjusted to the point where we are no longer so attracted to the foods we used to eat. I'm not saying I wouldn't love a home-made pizza with tomato and cheese (two of the things we have yet to introduce as we suspect husband might have reacted to either of them), but we can suffice very comfortably on mainly meat, veg and fat and fruit and fermented dairy. We feel full and satiated.

It's still not easy being 'different'. On Sunday there was tea after the evening service and although we wouldn't normally stay, we got talking (with bank holiday the next day). Round came the delicious smells of carrot cake and ginger cake and then plates of chocolate biscuits. Once more we found ourselves explaining that we couldn't eat them. Then came questions, well what can we eat? Couldn't we bring our own food to eat? It sounded really strange to have to say that well - we could, but we just don't eat like that any more - we rarely have snacks - only if I've had a bit of extra time to make them, and we wouldn't eat that late at night.... but it sounded lame, and there were other things to talk about. Son1 tried explaining that we eat a lot of broth and soup - well you can imagine the looks he got!

Talking about the Sons - they need medals. They politely turn down these tasty morsels and genuinely (well it seems genuine!) say that they wouldn't like them anymore. Time will tell, but for now I know we still have our chocolate supply in the freezer and the mention of chocolate in any form lightens their eyes!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. A member of the medical profession should be consulted about all matters relating to your health. This information is for advice only.

Having just had a couple of set backs in the family, I was reminded (again) about the importance of keeping a thorough food diary while doing a gut healing diet like GAPS.A diary allows you to track exactly what you have been eating and doing each day and helps to make identifying what might have caused a problem easier. Now don't be misled, it is very often not clear what has caused a set back. Sometimes you have to just keep pressing on and it's only when you look back a few months later that you see a pattern emerging (unless it's really obvious). In order for the diary to be of any use, though it must be detailed. So here I will run down what to include and why.

Do list what activities you have done each day. May be you have had a period of being more busy than you realised.Do list the quality of sleep you had each night, as poor sleep can quickly leave you feeling out of sorts and can impact how you feel.Do list the supplements you are taking. Always keep these to the minimum as the binders and fillers can sometimes cause more problems than the issue you were taking them for. Try and stick to good food as much as you can.Do make note of any untoward symptoms - e.g. headaches, stomach/digestive troubles/ pain/reoccurrence of symptoms that had gone/extra tiredness.Do list not only the meals, but each individual ingredient in them. This may seem laborious, but it is essential. You may be reacting to a tiny little thing you decided to throw into the meal, like mustard powder, or a herb, or a particular vegetable and if it is not listed you will never remember it was added in if you just write 'chicken casserole'.Do list your stool quality each day. This is big indicator of how well your body is utilising the food you feed into it. Check the Bristol Stool chart for an indication of what you should be aiming for.

I started out with just a notebook, but I was tempted to record skimpily. I now have a proper diary with a page to a day so I can have plenty of room to record the necessary details for all four of us.

When you hit a problem then first and foremost, DON'T PANIC. There is an excellent article on the subject here, but basically check for an obvious connection, like eating a new food for up to three days before. Remember that foods can affect you for up to three days after eating them. Consider STRESS as it plays a bigger part in our health than many of us like to acknowledge. If the issue continues, then start to look back. Is there any link between what you were eating/doing this time the symptoms previous time/s it has happened (if it has!). This can take quite a bit of detective work, but persevere. Keep going back to the diary check. you might have to keep mulling it over for a few days. See if the symptoms go and monitor the situation.(I don't like the language on the SCD site referenced above, but it seems to be the only one that deals with such an important subject well.)If you know you have been eating certain foods without symptoms then you can consider them to be safe. Keep a list of foods you know that you don't react to. If you need to, then cut anything not on the list out of your diet for a few days to return to a better state and then introduce ingredients you are not sure about slowly and only one every three days watching for reactions. I this way you can build your safe list and that will reduce the number of things you can suspect of causing problems.Once you have a safe list, you could reduce to just listing new things, but I have to say that experience has shown me that once I relax my guard I miss things.

Personally, in our family the things that have caused problems have been cider vinegar, cheese (we introduced it too soon), too much fruit, especially strawberries and too much chocolate (now there's a surprise!) The chocolate caused terrible cramping and urgent trips to the bathroom at midnight several times before we finally identified the problem. After all, we reasoned, chocolate is safe, we've been having it for ages. Out came the food diary - only to find that on each occasion this strange manifestation occurred it had been an unusual day and we had consumed more chocolate than usual.It sure is a relief when you get to the bottom of an issue, but it is a learning curve and we can now move on having made progress as we have identified the problem. It is easy to get stressed just trying to figure it out, but try and hang on in there and stay relaxed. Eventually it will become obvious. Just go back to those safe foods and DON'T PANIC - Oh and keep a thorough diary!

I'm off to keep mine up to date as I've already fallen foul of my own good advice. Hence I've found out the hard way the need to be detailed!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. A member of the medical profession should be consulted about all matters relating to your health. This information is for advice only.